114.  Snood.  Cf. i. 363 above.  Scott has the following note here:  “The snood, or riband, with which as Scottish lass braided her hair, had an emblematical signification, and applied to her maiden character.  It was exchanged for the curch, toy, or coif, when she passed, by marriage, into the matron state.  But if the damsel was so unfortunate as to lose pretensions to the name of maiden, without gaining a right to that of matron, she was neither permitted to use the snood, nor advanced to the graver dignity of the curch.  In old Scottish songs there occur many sly allusions to such misfortune; as in the old words to the popular tune of ‘Ower the muir amang the heather:’ 

      ’Down amang the broom, the broom,
       Down amang the broom, my dearie,
    The lassie lost her silken snood,
       That gard her greet till she was wearie.’”

120.  Or ... or.  For either ... or, as often in poetry.

131.  Till, frantic, etc.  The Ms. reads: 

    “Till, driven to frenzy, he believed
     The legend of his birth received.”

136.  The cloister.  Here personified as feminine.

138.  Sable-lettered.  “Black-letter;” the technical term for the “old English” form of letter, used in the earliest English manuscripts and books.

142.  Cabala.  Mysteries.  For the original meaning of the word, see Wb.

144.  Curious.  Inquisitive, prying into hidden things.

148.  Hid him.  See on i. 142 above.

149.  The desert gave him, etc.  Scott says here:  “In adopting the legend concerning the birth of the Founder of the Church of Kilmallie, the author has endeavored to trace the effects which such a belief was likely to produce, in a barbarous age, on the person to whom it related.  It seems likely that he must have become a fanatic or an impostor, or that mixture of both which forms a more frequent character than either of them, as existing separately.  In truth, mad persons are frequently more anxious to impress upon others a faith in their visions, than they are themselves confirmed in their reality; as, on the other hand, it is difficult for the most cool-headed impostor long to personate an enthusiast, without in some degree believing what he is so eager to have believed.  It was a natural attribute of such a character as the supposed hermit, that he should credit the numerous superstitions with which the minds of ordinary Highlanders are almost always imbued.  A few of these are slightly alluded to in this stanza.  The River Demon, or River-horse, for it is that form which he commonly assumes, is the Kelpy of the Lowlands, an evil and malicious spirit, delighting to forebode and to witness calamity.  He frequents most Highland lakes and rivers; and one of his most memorable exploits was performed upon the banks of Loch Vennachar, in the very district which forms the scene of our action:  it consisted in the destruction